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Xinhua Headlines: Hong Kong university trashed by rioters during prolonged occupation

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E-mail Xinhua, November 22, 2019

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HONG KONG, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- As most of the rioters have surrendered, the standoff at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) that has lasted for more than a week is approaching an end. But the chaos caused at the university lingers, and healing the deep scars left at the campus will be an arduous process.

TOTAL MESS

It was a normal Friday morning but the PolyU campus in Kowloon was extremely quiet.

A trolley was discarded outside a teaching building, surrounded by various garbage, from umbrellas and mannequins to paper boxes. About a dozen unused Molotov cocktails were on the trolley, the favorite weapon of black-clad rioters to attack the police with or set fires on the streets.

The walls of the building were spray-painted with anti-government slogans and obscenities, and the glass windows were smashed. Large dustbins and chairs were piled up to block the entrance.

Such nightmarish scenes could be seen everywhere on the campus, which has been vandalized and occupied by the rioters since last week.

A medical service center was utterly destroyed, with the glass door broken and rubbish left on chairs prepared for patients. A few steps inside were barricades erected by the rioters, made of bricks, cement and wooden boards.

Canteens were left in a rank unsanitary state, with kitchen waste scattered on the floor and swarms of flies buzzing around. In an equally messy gymnasium where the rioters slept at night, a paperboard was erected, saying "no photo taking."

Occasionally, a couple of black-clad, masked figures appeared from the shadows, but hastily disappeared.

Before entering the site, reporters were kindly reminded by the police to be careful. "They have weapons and they can shoot arrows from windows," said one of them, pointing at the red-brick buildings. "They have shot one of our colleagues in the leg."

WAR ZONE

The university and adjacent areas were turned into a "war zone" as more than 1,000 rioters seized the entire campus and transformed it into a fortress, during which the violence became increasingly ugly, including rampant vandalism and lethal attacks on both police and passersby.

Faculty members and students fled, leaving the place to the mobsters who went on the rampage.

Cheuk Hau-yip, police regional commander of Kowloon West, described the PolyU campus as a factory churning out lethal weapons.

Photos and video footage showed that the sophistication and lethalness of the weapons used by the rioters have moved on from hurling bricks and miscellaneous objects, to using more deadly ones such as gas canisters with nails attached to the surface, bows and arrows, petrol bombs, and corrosive liquids.

An arrow shot by a rioter deeply pierced the calf of a police media liaison officer standing among journalists on Sunday.

The nearby Cross-Harbor Tunnel, a major artery linking the Hong Kong Island and Kowloon, has been forced to close for more than a week with toll gates set ablaze and debris scattered on vehicle lanes.

Volunteers trying to clear the barricades were threatened and assaulted. A woman was surrounded, punched and robbed of her phone when removing bricks from the road. Another woman surnamed Lau said she deeply hoped the tunnel could resume operation as soon as possible. "Whatever your position, it is wrong to destroy Hong Kong," she said.

CAMPUSES FALL VICTIM

The PolyU rampage marked another university falling victim to the prolonged social unrest in Hong Kong as an increasing number of college students were involved in recent violent incidents.

The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) was occupied by rioters for days last week and suffered enormous damage. A large sum of money will be needed for repairs and reconstruction.

Thus far, three universities, namely, the PolyU, CUHK and City University of Hong Kong, have reported to the police about large numbers of petrol bombs being stored on their campuses and large quantities of flammable and explosive chemicals being stolen from their laboratories. In the CUHK alone, more than 3,900 petrol bombs were found.

A resident living nearby the PolyU urged the young rioters to stop for a moment and rethink their acts.

"I hope they can think about whether they can get what they want in such a violent way and whether they will someday regret what they did," a woman asking to be called Wong said while sobbing.

Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Carrie Lam called on rioters who were still staying in the PolyU to stop using violence and said she hoped the incident could be resolved peacefully.

Dozens of rioters are estimated to still be hiding on the campus and police have repeatedly appealed to them to surrender. As of Tuesday, nearly 800 people had left the PolyU peacefully, with nearly 300 under the age of 18 who were released after having their personal data recorded. Enditem